Internal-combustion engine.



C. H. THIE & W. M. BUTLER.

INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 7, I914.

Patented Jan. 2, 1917.

CHARLES H. THIE AND WILLIARD M. BTJ'TLER, OF TOLEDO, OHIO.

INTERNAL-COMBUSTION ENGINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented J an. 12, 1917.

Application filed November 7, 1914. Serial No. 870,900.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, CHARLES H. THIE and VVILLIARD M. BUTLER, citizens of the United States, residing at Toledo, in the county of Lucas and State of Ohio, have inventedcertain new and useful Improvements in Internal-Combustion Engines; and v we do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention -.relates to new and useful improvements in internal combustion engines and has for its principal object to provide a motor in which the gases whll be admitted to the combustion chamber under compression.

Another object of the invention is to provide a motor wherein the compression of the gas at the time of its explosion is considerably above that of the usual type of engines.

With these and other objects in view the invention consists in the combination and arrangement of parts which will be fully set forth in the following specification and in the accompanying drawing, in which the drawing illustrates an internal combustion engine constructed in accordance with this invention as it would appear at the firing point-and also shows the dotted line position illustrating the same at the intake point.

Referring now to the drawing by characters of reference the numeral 1 designates the crank shaft of the engine provided with the crank arms 2. These crank arms are in straight parallel relation with each other and are connected by means of thecylindrical portion 3 around which the sleeves 4 of the connecting rods 5 are clamped. A similar connecting rod 6 is provided with the sleeves 7 which surround the cylindrical portion 8 formed between the innermost crank arm, and this connecting rod- 6 is connected at its opposite terminal to the wrist pin 9 which is carried by the inner piston designated bythe numeral 10. This inner piston is slidable within the outer piston 11 which is provided with the axialbore 12 one end of which is closed as at 13 and this outer piston is providedatits lower terminal with the diametrically opposite pins 14 to which the upper terminals of the connecting rods 5 are connected. .A suitable exhaust opening 15 is formed in one of the walls of the outer piston and this opening 15 is arranged to aline with the openings 16 in the cylinder when the engine is at the proper pointto exhaust. A single intake port 17 is formed in outer piston adjacent the end closure or head 13 and this inlet opening is also arranged to aline with a suitable opening 18 formed in the cylinder in which a spark plug or some other igniting device is inserted.

The cylinder which is designated by the numeral 19 is formed with the inner and outer walls 20 and 21 respectively and is provided at its upper terminal with the closure 22 a suitable compression chamber 23 is formed in the upper end of the cylinder 19 and this compression chamber is pro vided with the outlet port 21 which communicates with the valve chamber 25 to which the gas is admitted to the compression chamber. The valve-chamber 25 constitutes an auxiliary compression chamber. A suitable outlet port 26 communicates with the valve chamber and this port is arranged so that when the outer piston is at the uppermost end of the stroke the ports 17 and 26 will aline and thus permit the gas which Valve chamber 25 to pass into the chamber formed between the inner side of the wall 13 of the outer piston and the head of the piston 10. It will thus be seen that the gas can tering this chamber will enter under compression.

From the foregoing it will be apparent that the gas which is to be used is admitted to the compression chamber 23 through the valve chamber 25 and ports 24 and 26. Upon movement of the crank shaft it will be apparent that the outer piston will move upwardly to the dotted line position there by alining the ports 17 and 26 with each other and the ports 15 and 16 with each other. In this position it will also be evident that the piston 10 will have descended to the lower point with relation to the bore 12 of the piston 11 and thereby provide the maximum amount of space between the 'wall 13 of the piston 11 and the head of the piston 10. The gas which has been compressed in the chamber 23 will then pass through the port 2 1 to the chamber 25 and thence to the port 26 and port 17 to the explosion chamber. As clearly shown, the position of the exhaust port 15 in the outerpiston with reis such that said exhaust port is uncovered by the inner piston'for a relatively brief period, as the port 15 moves into registration with the port 16, whereas the inlet port 17 remains in registration with the relatively stationarycylinder port 26 for a considerably longer period, thus insuring a quick and effective scavenging of the products of combustion from the explosion chamber by the incoming charge without unnecessary waste of the fresh combustible charge. Upon further movement of the crank shaft it will be apparent that the piston head 10 and the wall 13 will be brought closer together which will cause the shaft contained therein to be further compressed until they reach the point indicated in the drawing'at which time the gases will be ignited by the spark plug or other igniting means inserted in the opening 18 at which time the gases will be expanded and force the pistons apart. During the second compression of they gas within the explosion chamber it will be apparent that more gas is drawn into the compression chamber 23 through the valve in the valve chamber 25 and in this way a continuous operation of thedevice is insured.

While in the foregoing there has been shown and described the preferred embodiment of this invention it is'to be understood that such changes in the combination and arrangement of parts as may fall within the scope of the claims may be resorted to without departing-from the spirit and scope of the invention.

Having thus described the invention What is claimed as new, is

1. In an engine structure, a cylinder having a closed upper terminal providing a compression chamber, .inwardly diverging inlet ports communicating with the compression chamber and an exhaust port formed in the lower portion thereof, an outer hollow piston reciprocable Within the cylinder having an internal explosion chamber and an exhaust port formed in the lower portion thereof adapted to communicate,

during reciprocation of the piston, with the exhaust port in the cylinder, the wall of the explosion chamber being formed with an inlet port adapted to register with the lowermost inlet port of said pair, whereby an explosive charge is admitted to the explosion chamber, and an inner piston reciprocably mounted within the outer piston and arranged to gradually close the exhaust port in the outer piston as said port moves into registration with the exhaust port in the cylinder.

2. In an engine structure, a cylinder having a closed upper terminal providing a compression chamber, inwardly diverging inlet ports communicating with the compression chamber, and an exhaustport formed in the lower portion thereof, a valve chamber communicating with the diverging inlet ports and constituting an auxiliary compression chamber, said cylinder having a spark plug receiving port disposed in line with said inlet ports, an outer hollow piston reciprocable within the cylinder having an internal explosion chamber, and an exhaust port in'the lower portion thereof adapted to communicate, during reciprocation of the piston, with the exhaust port in the cylinder, the wall of the explosion cham ber being formed with a single inlet port adapted to register with the lowermost inlet port of said pair and Withsaid spark plug-receiving port, whereby an explosive charge is admitted to the explosion chamber, and an inner piston reciprocably mounted within the outer piston and arranged to gradually close the exhaust port in the outer piston as said port moves into registration with the exhaust port in the cylinder.

In testlmony whereof we aflix our slgnatures in presence of two witnesses.

CHARLES H. THIE. WILLIARD- M. BUTLER.

Witnesses:

E. H. EoKER'r, W. H; REPAin. 

